Wednesday, August 6, 2014

In 26 years of covering high school basketball, I've seen a lot of great dunkers. For me, the best I've seen in person is Vince Carter. Gerald Henderson, now of the Hornets, and LeBron James were also pretty amazing in high school.

I once saw former Providence High and UNC star Antawn Jamison jump one foot inside the free throw line -- in a game -- and throw one down left-handed (Jamison is a rightie).

But there's a kid playing right now who will give any of them a run for their money.

Fayetteville's Kwe Parker impressed me catching alley-oops from teammate Dennis Smith as a 9th grader when Parker and Smith were teammates at Fayetteville's Trinity Christian High. I've seen Parker make some absolutely silly dunks in warm-ups before Trinity Christian games and I've seen him make a few in games that made you look at your neighbor and shake your head ("Did you see that?").

Smith, a 6-2 junior point guard, has gone onto become one of the nation's top 10 in his class and one of North Carolina's best three players, period. Parker has become one of the most famous players in his class because of his unique jumping ability. A high major Division I recruit, Parker will play at High Point Wesleyan this season, leaving Smith but joining another top national recruit, 6-9 junior Harry Giles.

Here is a new video of Parker dunking (the right-hander nearly touches the rim with his head before tossing in a left-handed tip dunk that would win many a dunk competition).